Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-07-24
.NIGHT-HAWK'S TALK.
THB MEN WHO DRIVE CARS IN NEW YORK
AFTER DARK.
The Shlvering Gentleman and the Gentleman Who
Was Shot in the Baek-A Strong-Armd
Cabman-A Ride for a Cold Halt.
" 70 York Sun.

called might hawks by the general pub
lie. and "~buckers'' by the regular stable
cabmen. I'VE don't get no way-up swells
like we did before them cab companies
started, and then the police has shut up
all the dives and that kills business for us.
You see we sOrter depends upon tough citi-
zens for iares-fellers who 90 TO Tom
Gould's and the Haymarket-yOu un'-
stan, Close them places up, and what
do we git? Git left; see? don't know
how we makes a liyin', | don't. Things
amt like what they used ter be, not by a
blank sight, boss. See them figgers paint
ell right amuck on the lantern Of my cab?
Just them little gobs OF paint bust the bus
mess all to Jerusalem. We have TO have
'em there. The buckers used to have their
numbers in little fggers on the under side
of the step, and 'twasn't many people
knew where to look for 'em. Course |
never lone none % that crooked business
myself, u~n'stan', but / knows how the
racket was worked by fellers that warn't
straight. You see they'd pick up a gen.
tleman rs was pretty full and offer to take
him home and drive him around until he
got sOrter rocked TO sleep. Then they'd
20 through him and clean out his pockets,
and after that they'd take him home. If
he woke up when they helped him out and
made a row about losing his money, they'd
Just tumble him over and drive away, n
he never could tell who they was; see?
Can't do that now, because a man can get
the number right from the lamp. A Teller
has to be careful now if he wants to keep
ont of trouble.
"Just TO show you how it works, the
other night one of the tellers was standing
around the corner, when three men came
along, and two of them put the other IN a
cab and told Johnny to drive them to a
house up town. Then they lit ont.
Johnny looked inside and saw that the
gentlefian was rs full as a goat and his
watch gOne and the broken chain hanging
out of his pocket. Says Johnny to HIM
self, says he: If take this stiff home
and he gets ON that he has been robbed,
he'll lay it to me and Ill do time
sure SO he ups and calls a copper and
says lie won't have nothing to do with the
Job. The copper goes through the drunk
gentleman and finds he's broke and then
he yanks him ont of the cab and takes
him in some place, and says to Johnny,
says he: You're honest, young Teller
That's the way Johnny tells it, and he
oughter know, hadn't he? Course he had.
Johnny wouldn't collar the Doodle him
self and then call the copper and give him
a fill about the two fellers as skipped.
See?
1.-The queerest thing that ever happened
to me was one morning when | was coming
back from way out beyond the park.
Everything was queer that night, you
might say. | drove a lady home, and u
friend OF mine drove q Teller that | think
was her husband. lie wanted TO get home
first, and so did she, but neither one Of'em
was certain the other was in a cab. Course,
| didn't want to see a lady get into trouble,
and so | gave my friend the tip, and he
tamhled, and | got the lady home and was
out of sight 10y the time the man got there;
hut that's got nothing to do with what |
was going to tell. 1t only shows what
funny things a buckcr III across some
times.
at must have been 3 o'clock when |
turned into Fifth avenue from somewhere
up near Fiitieth street, aud | saw some
thing funny coming along the sidewalk. !
hauled up by the curhstOne to see what it
was, and il turned out 10 he q man with
nothing hut his underclOtheS on. Cab,
sir says |, Us he came near me. He
looked ut Inc a minute, and | thought he
was walking i'll his sleep. lie tried to
say something, but his teeth chat
tered ~ that he couldn't talk and
| saw he was about iull OF
bulge. He had IN good underclotheS, and
looked like q swell, so | thought I'd take
care Of him for luck. | put him into the
cab, aud drove down to a hotel, where |
knew the night clerk, and got him into a
room without letting anybody see him.
Then | fetched him II hot drink after put
ting him TO bed, and pretty soon he got
over the chill, and told me what was the
matter, as far rs he knew. Putting this
and that together ! made out the story
pretty well. Seems he had been on Il
racket, and had got chuck full, and had
hired a night cab to take him home. lie
went 10 sleep in the cab, and when he
woke up he found himself under
somebody's front steps without any
clothes except what | told you. The cab
man and his partner on the box had
stripped him and left him there, and he
hadn't the least idea who they were or
what part of the city he was in. When |
met him he was coming down town, al
though h.. lived way out on One Hundred
and rhirty-frst street. He'd lost a fine
dress suit, diamond stud and u roll ofbills.
He didn't want his wife to know what had
happened, so he gave me n note telling her
to let me have "a business suit, rs he could
not get home to change and didn't want 10
show up at the Office III full dress. guess
he wouldn't want to show up in the fix |
found him in. Well, l got the clothes
after lying like blazes to his wife about
N important club meeting, you see, and
he paid me well for getting him out of the
scrape. No, sir, l don't approve Of that
kind Of business. Taking all of a gentle
mans clothes is going a little too far, and
no square cabman would do it.
There's a chap over on the other corner
who could tell a queer story if he wanted
to, hut it's no use for any stranger 10 ask
him. He got n call one night and went
up to Il fine house on Murray Hill. A tall
man with grayish hair and m~oustache
came out and asked him how much he
would take to hold his tongue. He was
pretty fly, and said he thought $25 would
about keep him quiet M a racket. The
tall man put up the sugar without IA kick,
and told him to wait and give a whistle
when nobody was in sight. He saw a
light up stairs, and when the door was
opened for a minute he heard a woman
crying and somebody telling her TO keep
quiet. When he whistled the
door opened quickly, and the
tall man and another man,
who seemed excited and nervous, came out
carrying a third man wrapped up in a blan-
ket. They put the third man in the cab
and the tall man got in with him. The
other man, who seemed to live in the
house, whispered a moment with the tall
chap, who spoke sharp and decided, and
then hurried hack into the house. The
cabman drove to a certain hotel, where he
helped carry the chap, who seemed sick or
drunk, mp to a small room, and then went
away. Perhaps you remember the case
of q man who was found in a room at a
hotel with bullet in his back and a pistol
in his hand. and nobody cOuld gel n word